By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 26 Nov: The rescue operation to evacuate 41 workers trapped in Silkyara Tunnel remained mostly halted for over three days due to hurdles. However, some significant progress was made since this morning. The most significant is the beginning of vertical drilling by the SJVNL team with the help of a very heavy vertical drill machine brought from Indore and also vertical drilling by ONGC team at another location. By the time this story was filed this evening, the SJVNL team was able to complete vertical drilling to the depth of 18 metres.
In addition, preparations are also underway to begin perpendicular horizontal drilling alongside the existing tunnel and work is also being done by the BRO to carry out drilling from Barkot end of the tunnel. Sources claimed that the SJVNL is doing vertical drilling of a diameter of 200 mm. If there is no water found trapped inside which is common in the hills, then drilling of 800 mm diameter will be followed. It may take two to three days to complete the vertical drilling of 800 mm diameter.
At the same time, the work on removing the broken auger (bits) of the drill machine which is stuck inside the 48 metre long 900 mm diameter pipes drilled in the debris has picked up after arrival of a laser cutter from Chandigarh and a plasma cutter from Hyderabad. These had landed last night at Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun in an Air Force plane. Thereafter, a green corridor was created to bring them at the earliest to the Silkyara site. The question however arises, why this equipment had not been procured earlier in anticipation. Had this been done, there would not have been undue delay in the progress of rescue operations. A lot of time has been lost due to manual cutting of auger stuck inside the pipe. However, now that this equipment has reached and is now being used, it is being hoped that the remaining 13 metre long piece of auger shaft will be removed before tomorrow morning and then manual drilling with the help of Army and some private experts can begin.
A special team of the Army has reached here for manual drilling in Silkyara Tunnel. Besides, trench workers from a sewerage company in Mumbai have also arrived at the site. The Army and the private sewerage workers will coordinate with each other in jointly carrying out manual drilling. Besides this, the army has also been given the task of making a drift tunnel, which would be started from the right side of the tunnel from the debris section. A team of Coal India Limited from Nagpur has also reached Silkyara, which is designing a capsule that will allow workers to exit after vertical drilling. Four experts have arrived at the site in this team.
A matter of some additional concern is that forecast of rain and snow in the hills of Uttarkashi over the next two days. If this happens, the rescue operation may get seriously affected.
